British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
's Class 370
tilting train
A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train (or other vehicle) rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide abo ...
s, also referred to as APT-P (meaning Advanced Passenger Train Prototype), were the pre-production
Advanced Passenger Train
The Advanced Passenger Train (APT) was a tilting high speed train developed by British Rail during the 1970s and early 1980s, for use on the West Coast Main Line (WCML). The WCML contained many curves, and the APT pioneered the concept of activ ...
units. Unlike the earlier experimental gas-turbine
APT-E
The APT-E, for Advanced Passenger Train Experimental, was the prototype Advanced Passenger Train tilting train unit. It was powered by gas turbines, the only multiple unit so powered that was used by British Rail. The APT-E consisted of two ...
overhead electrification
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipment ...
and were used on the
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
between
London Euston
Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...
and Glasgow Central. The APT-P is the most powerful domestic train to have operated in Britain, the eight traction motors fitted to the two central Motor Cars giving a total output of . This enabled the train to set the UK rail speed record of in December 1979, a record that stood for 23 years until broken by a
Eurostar
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...
Class 373
The British Rail Class 373 or TGV TMST, sometimes referred to as Eurostar e300, is a French designed and Anglo-French built electric multiple unit train that is used for Eurostar international high-speed rail services from the United Kingdom t ...
on the newly completed
High Speed 1
High Speed 1 (HS1), legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel.
It is part of a line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe; ...
.
History
The APT-P was unveiled to the public on 7 June 1978 and continued to be used for testing into 1986. Due to ongoing technical problems with these pre-production units, and a lack of cash or political will to take the project forward, the planned APT-S (Advanced Passenger Train Squadron Service) production-series units were never built, but did influence the design of the later InterCity 225 sets designed for the
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
electrification. The influence is strongest with the Class 91 locos which took many features from the APT powercars. The technology was later sold to
Fiat Ferroviaria
Alstom Ferroviaria S.p.A., former Fiat Ferroviaria S.p.A., is the Italian division of Alstom. Fiat Ferroviaria S.p.A. was the rail division of automobile manufacturer Fiat. It was founded in 1880 as Società Nazionale Officine di Savigliano.
and used for improving their second generation
Pendolino
Pendolino (from Italian ''pendolo'' "pendulum", and ''-ino,'' a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the UK, the US, ...
trains which are used worldwide, including on the
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
as the
Class 390
The British Rail Class 390 ''Pendolino'' is a type of electric high-speed passenger train operated by Avanti West Coast in the United Kingdom, leased from Angel Trains. They are electric multiple units using Fiat Ferroviaria's tilting train ...
.
Numbering
Units were numbered 370001-370006 (plus two spare cars labelled 370007) and were formed as follows:
*48101-48107 - Driving Trailer Second
*48201-48206 - Trailer Second
*48401-48406 - Trailer Restaurant Second Buffet
*48301-48306 - Trailer Unclassified
*48501-48506 - Trailer First
*48601-48607 - Trailer Brake First
*49001-49006 - Non-Driving Motor
A full train was made up of two units running back-to-back, with the two motor cars adjoining. The motor cars had no seating accommodation or through-gangway, so the two halves of the train were unconnected for passengers.
Withdrawal and preservation
All six units were withdrawn during 1985–1986, and most cars were quickly scrapped. The remaining cars are exhibited at
Crewe Heritage Centre
Crewe Heritage Centre is a railway museum located in Crewe, England. Managed by the Crewe Heritage Trust, the museum is located between the railway station and the town centre; the site was the location of the 'Old Works' which was demolished in ...
, a museum located next to
Crewe station
Crewe railway station is a railway station in Crewe, Cheshire, England. It opened in 1837 and is one of the most historically significant railway stations in the world.
* Of these, six cars are formed into a single train:
**48103 - Driving Trailer Second
**48404 - Trailer Restaurant Second Buffet
**48603 - Trailer Brake First
**49002 - Non-Driving Motor
**48602 - Trailer Brake First
**48106 - Driving Trailer Second
* A single Non-Driving Motor car does not form part of the train and is exhibited separately:
**49006 - Non-Driving Motor (not part of the above train) was on loan to the Electric Railway Museum in Coventry from July 2011 until its closure in October 2017 and moved back to
Crewe Heritage Centre
Crewe Heritage Centre is a railway museum located in Crewe, England. Managed by the Crewe Heritage Trust, the museum is located between the railway station and the town centre; the site was the location of the 'Old Works' which was demolished in ...
in March 2018.
Models
In 1980,
Hornby Railways
Hornby Railways is a British rail transport modelling, model railways manufacturing company. Its roots date back to 1901 in Liverpool, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccano construction toy. The first clockwork train was pr ...
produced a
OO gauge
OO gauge or OO scale (also, 00 gauge and 00 scale) is the most popular standard-gauge model railway standard in the United Kingdom, outside of which it is virtually unknown. OO gauge is one of several 4 mm-scale standards (4 mm to 1 foot, ...
5-car set model available as a train set with plain yellow fronts, which was released as a 5-car train pack with black fronts and window surrounds in 1981, until appearing in the 1983 catalogue when the train set was last produced. In 1984 it was discontinued from the Hornby range. However, it was featured in the 1985 catalogue, although no new models were produced that year.
In 2020, Hornby Railways announced that as part of their centenary year range - and both the 40th Anniversaries of the year it entered service and the original Hornby model a newly tooled OO Gauge model of the BR Class 370 Advanced Passenger Train would be launched.
The APT-P will be available as part of a five-car train pack consisting of sets 370 003 and 370 004 with plain yellow fronts included are DTS, TFB, NDM (motorised), TFB and DTS and a seven-car train pack included is the APT U Development coach, consisting of sets 370 001 and 370 002 with DTS, TBF, NDM (motorised), NDM (dummy), TBF and DTS in APT livery with black front and window surrounds with the additional SKU' coaches available separately in four sets of two including TS, TU, TRBS, and TF with the additional NDM (motorised) and the APT U Development coach,(for the 5 car pack) for each set to form a realistic complete full rake train for both train packs.
See also
*
British Rail Class 390
The British Rail Class 390 ''Pendolino'' is a type of electric high-speed passenger train operated by Avanti West Coast in the United Kingdom, leased from Angel Trains. They are electric multiple units using Fiat Ferroviaria's tilting train P ...
*
British Rail Class 91
The British Rail Class 91 is a high-speed rail, high-speed electric locomotive, which produces power of ; it was ordered as a component of the East Coast Main Line modernisation and electrification programme of the late 1980s. The Class 91s wer ...
*
List of high speed trains
The following is a list of high-speed trains that have been, are, or will be in commercial service.
A high-speed train is generally defined as one which operates at or over in regular passenger service, with a high level of service, and often c ...
370
__NOTOC__
Year 370 ( CCCLXX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Valens (or, less frequently, year 1123 '' ...
370
__NOTOC__
Year 370 ( CCCLXX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Valens (or, less frequently, year 1123 '' ...